Actual-life jewellery heists might be simply as dramatic as those proven within the films. Catch the daylight in a sublime French resort. Or the intricately deliberate theft of the diamond capital of the world. Or the three surfers who bravely broke right into a fourth-floor window of a well-known New York museum. Here is a better have a look at how thieves stole thousands and thousands of {dollars} price of diamonds, gems, watches and extra six instances.
American Museum of Pure Historical past
New York Metropolis, October 1964
By day, Jack Murphy (aka “Murph the Surf”), Alan Kuhn and Roger Clark are three well-dressed, 20-something surfers from Miami hanging out in a Manhattan resort penthouse suite. However on the evening of October 29, 1964, they put weeks of planning into motion, breaking into the American Museum of Pure Historical past and pulling off the biggest gem cap in New York Metropolis historical past. Whereas Clark served as an observer under, Murphy and Kuhn scaled a fence, climbed a hearth escape, ran down a slim ramp, hung from a rope, and jumped to a fourth-floor window exterior the museum’s JP Morgan Corridor of Gems and Minerals. Because of these home windows (left open for air flow), non-working show case alarms and one safety guard on responsibility, they have been capable of enter the gem corridor and use glass cutters and duct tape to steal $410,000 price of rarities. Jewellery (price about $3.9 million in 2023). They began creating with 563 carat Star of India sapphire, 100 carat DeLong Star ruby and 116 carat Midnight Star black sapphire and different gems. After being tipped off, the police arrested the boys two days later and finally recovered a lot of the gems. After garnering a lot media consideration as standard folks heroes, the thieves served as much as two years in jail for every crime.
Learn extra: 5 most daring financial institution robberies
Antwerp Diamond Middle
Antwerp, Belgium, February 2003
On February 16, 2003, thieves broke into the underground vaults of the Antwerp Diamond Middle in Belgium, lengthy thought of an impregnable stronghold in one of many world’s busiest diamond hubs — and one of many world’s richest. As soon as inside, the thieves spent 4 to 5 hours emptying about 100 protected deposit bins of their contents, finally making off with a staggering $100 million price of diamonds, gems and money (roughly $159 million in 2023). Burglars have disabled most of the vault’s safety techniques, similar to thermal and movement sensors, utilizing frequent home goods similar to hairspray, styrofoam and tape. Different safety measures they thwarted embody Doppler radar, a lock with 100 million mixtures, and two-foot-thick metallic gates with magnets that robotically sign police when pulled away. As they collected all of the money and valuables they may carry (and left most they could not), investigators have been unable to determine the perpetrators with safety digicam footage. Quickly, nonetheless, rubbish baggage left behind in a forest alongside the freeway throughout their escape supplied quite a few clues, main the police to Leonardo Notarbartolo, a lifelong Italian legal posing as a diamond vendor for a joint case. Convicted of masterminding the theft, Notarbartolo spent 10 years in jail earlier than being launched on parole, however the loot he and his accomplices stole was by no means discovered.
Schiphol Airport
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, February 2005
At Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on February 25, 2005, 4 males dressed as KLM staff boarded a stolen KLM freighter and ambushed an armored truck able to take jewellery on a flight to Antwerp, the capital of the world’s diamond commerce. Weapons drawn, they pressured the drivers out earlier than rushing away. As a lot of the gems they unearthed are nonetheless uncut, it is unclear how a lot the loot is price — although it is estimated at $72 million. Authorities intercepted a cellphone name of the robbers discussing the crime that led to the arrest of seven males in 2017. 4 have been jailed in 2019 and sentenced to as much as seven years in jail. After the heist, $43 million price of diamonds have been discovered within the getaway automotive, however the remainder of the loot was nonetheless lacking.
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Harry Winston
Paris, France, December 2008
Paris, June 23, 2009: Police investigating a reported theft at Harry Winston in Paris show a few of the handled jewellery they discovered. The arrest was made after the officers realized {that a} fence suspected to have come to France from overseas was making ready to promote stolen jewellery.
FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP through Getty Photographs
When three well-dressed ladies walked into the Harry Winston jewellery retailer on the ritzy Avenue Montaigne in Paris on December 4, 2008, the staff thought nothing of it. That modified when seemingly odd prospects – turned out to be male thieves in blond wigs, skirts, socks and heels – pulled out handguns and grenades, assaulted a number of clerks and made off with about $100 million price of bijou and watches. is The robbers then calmly walked and drove away. In 2015, eight individuals have been convicted of the crime (in addition to a theft on the identical location in 2007) and sentenced to between 9 months and 15 years in jail.
Watch: A preview of Historical past’s Best Heists with Pierce Brosnan, premiering Tuesday, February 7 at 10/9c on the HISTORY® Channel and streaming the next day.
Graph Diamond
London, UK, August 2009
On August 6, 2009, two males of their 30s, aided by latex prosthetics and wigs, grew to become the unwitting accomplices of make-up artists in Britain’s largest gem raid. The pair of masked thieves walked into Graff Diamonds, a complicated Mayfair jeweler in London, flashed their weapons, pressured staff to lie on the ground, and stole some 43 items of bijou – together with a 272-carat necklace – price $65 million on the time from their colleagues. , based on police. The robbers then fled in a getaway automotive, taking pictures a safety guard within the course of and disappearing. After one of many automobiles crashed, they gave the bag of gems to an confederate on a bike, who gave the slip to the police. A cellular phone present in one of many autos helped police determine the gang of criminals behind the theft and convicted a number of males. No misplaced bubbles are turned.
Carlton Intercontinental Lodge
Cannes, France, July 2013
In simply 30 seconds, on July 28, 2013, a lone thief stole $136 million price of bijou from the luxurious Carlton Intercontinental Lodge in Cannes, French Riviera. The well-known area hosts a brief exhibition of diamonds from the Lev Levi Diamond Home, owned by Uzbek oligarch-turned-Israeli billionaire Lev Levi. However with out armed safety guards, the lone robber proven in safety footage wielding a gun, carrying a baseball cap and a bandana rapidly stuffed a duffel bag with 72 objects, together with 55 carats, in broad daylight. Diamond ring, 30 carat emerald and 29 carat sapphire. He’s free. The resort featured prominently within the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock movie catch a thiefCary Grant performs a reformed cat thief making an attempt to clear his identify in a string of bijou heists.